Seattle rent still stalling—in luxury markets

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CURBED SEATTLE (OCTOBER 8, 2018) – Another report shows rental costs slowing way down, but the lowest-cost rentals are still in high demand

Last month, we reported on analysis from Zillow that showed that rent was starting to slow down, with a slight decrease in median rent in the metropolitan area year-over-year. The catch: That decrease was mostly concentrated in high-end, already-expensive rentals.

A quarterly report from Realpage released in late September tells a similar story: high vacancy and slowing prices at the top end, with high demand and high prices at the lower end. While Realpage’s report didn’t show a decrease, the annual change from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018 was just 1.7 percent, but again, largely influenced by what’s happening with newer, higher-end apartments.

“Rents for luxury product slipped a little bit over past year,” said Jay Board, content manager at Realpage, over email. “That’s primarily driven by intense apartment construction in the urban core.”

Read more at: CURBED SEATTLE.